# Office of Special Plans reincarnated as the Iran Directorate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [February 10, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619 "2007-02-10T15:30:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/21 "2007-02-11T01:01:15Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator]
Its irony, but its not post-modernist irony.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, well 9/11 changed everything, including post-modernist irony.
---
### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/22 "2007-02-11T01:23:01Z")
Once again leading to my all time favorite Simpsons quote:
GenX1: “Are you being ironic?”
GenX2: “I can’t even tell anymore.”
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/23 "2007-02-11T01:24:18Z")
No. It is not irony.
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/24 "2007-02-11T06:03:36Z")
Jan. 24, 2007 [Is Iran providing devices that help insurgents detonate IEDs in Iraq?](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16795765/site/newsweek/)
> [@](#):
>
> The devices in question—which cost as little as $1 a piece—are called “passive infrared” sensors or detectors. They are commonly used to turn on lights or burglar alarms when someone or something passes in front of them. Over the past year, U.S. forces in Iraq have repeatedly fallen victim to sophisticated homemade bombs—known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices—which are often rigged with passive infrared sensors.
>
> Recent reports from U.S. intelligence agencies show that Iranian agents or brokers have ordered the devices in bulk …
Feb. 1, 2007 [U.S. delays report on Iranian role in Iraq](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiran1feb01,0,426918.story?coll=la-home-headlines)
> [@](#):
>
> The Bush administration has postponed plans to offer public details of its charges of Iranian meddling inside Iraq amid internal divisions over the strength of the evidence, U.S. officials said.
> …
> “We don’t want a repeat of the situation we had when [then-Secretary of State] Colin L. Powell went before the United Nations,” said one U.S. official
Feb. 10, 2007 [U.S. set to assert evidence against Iran](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070211/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iran_intelligence_4)
> [@](#):
>
> After weeks of preparation and revisions, U.S. officials are preparing to detail evidence supporting administration’s claims of Iran’s meddlesome and deadly activities. A briefing was scheduled Sunday in Baghdad.
>
> The Iran dossier, some 200 pages thick in its classified form, was revised heavily after officials decided it was not ready for release as planned last month. What is made public probably would be short, and shorter on details than the administration recently had suggested.
---
### Author:  [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/25 "2007-02-11T15:58:31Z")
I won’t support a war against Iran at this point unless Iran directly attacks US soil or openly fields troops against the US in Iraq. And by “openly”, I mean Iran verifies that they’re doing it. Not a Tonkin-esque firing on a US ship or something like that.
Bush has zero credibility with me, and I have no confidence in his ability to plan and execute a war. Because any evidence Bush might have on Iran would necessarily be largely based on classified intelligence I can’t even see, let alone verify for myself, it is impossible for this administration to convince me of the necessity for any action against Iran. Because of the disaster in Iraq, it’s impossible for me to assume that any military action in Iran will be at all successful.
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/26 "2007-02-11T16:26:16Z")
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17086418/site/newsweek/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17086418/site/newsweek/)
**Rumors of War**
> [@](#):
>
> …At least one former White House official contends that some Bush advisers secretly want an excuse to attack Iran. “They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for,” says Hillary Mann, the administration’s former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs…With Americans and Iranians jousting on the chaotic battleground of Iraq, the chances of a small incident’s spiraling into a crisis are higher than they’ve been in years…
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/27 "2007-02-11T20:36:50Z")
News conference in Baghdad this afternoon:
[Iran Sending Explosives to Extremist Groups in Iraq, Officials Say](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021100479.html)
[U.S. Presents Evidence of Iranian Weapons in Iraq](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/world/middleeast/11cnd-weapons.html?hp&ex=1171256400&en=5d356debadef0bd5&ei=5094&partner=homepage)
[‘Wash Post’ Joins ‘NYT’ in Trumpeting ‘Anonynmous’ Claims of Iran Weapons in Iraq](http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003544378)
The administration really needs to get someone known, and credible to look America in the eye and make these accusations with a straight face. I don’t think they have anyone who can do that.
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/28 "2007-02-11T20:40:38Z")
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me…you can’t be fooled twice.
I don’t trust a one of 'em. Like I said before, I trust Iran not to attack us more than I trust the Bush administration not to attack Iran. Actually, I’d trust Iran period more than I trust the Bush administration on anything.
This White House has a history of lying to us to promote their aggressive agenda, and anyone who doesn’t listen to that history when examining their motivations (ostensible or actual) should come to regret it.
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/29 "2007-02-11T20:52:38Z")
[QUOTE=Squink]
…and credible to look America in the eye and make these accusations with a straight face. I don’t think they have anyone who can do that.
[/QUOTE]
“Colin? Hi, it’s George! Fine, fine, they’re all fine. Look, the reason I’m calling is we’ve got a bit of a problem on our hands…well, its the Iran thing…yeah, Iran, with an “N”…its not _that_ funny, Colin… Anyway, we’ve got ironclad evidence that Iran is interfering in Iraq…pretty ironclad, kinda solid…mostly…anyway, we need a good public spokesman and we were wondering if you…Colin?..Colin?..”
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/30 "2007-02-11T21:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me…you can’t be fooled twice.
[/QUOTE]
No, no, **NO!**
It goes:
> [@GWB](#):
>
> Fool me once, shame on you! But . . . umm . . . can’t get fooled again!
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/31 "2007-02-11T21:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
No, no, **NO!**
It goes:
[/QUOTE]
Fool me once… Shame on… Shame on you… Fool me… You can’t get fooled again!
[Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM) (quote at 46 seconds.)
---
### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619/32 "2007-02-11T22:51:02Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
Fool me once… Shame on… Shame on you… Fool me… You can’t get fooled again!
[Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM) (quote at 46 seconds.)
[/QUOTE]
Yes, and again the TV news, at least what I’ve seen, is reporting these DOD handouts without the slightest bit of skepticism. They just read the handout and let it go at that.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-of-special-plans-reincarnated-as-the-iran-directorate/391619.md?page=1)